Influence of the solar radiation in the seedlings morphology of Carica papaya L.

Abstract

In several regions of Cuba in recent years the production areas planted with papaya seedlings from the system with black mesh polyethylene, presented developmental disabilities and deaths under field conditions after the transplant performed. Due to the current problems, the objective of this research was to determine the influence of solar radiation in the open and polyethylene mesh in the morphology of papaya seedlings. The study was conducted at the Research Institute of Tropical Roots. At 45 days after sowing, the following variables were evaluated: leaf area, stem diameter, height, petiole length, number of leaves, fresh and dry/seedling biomass. Leaf area was significantly influenced by black polyethylene mesh, which provided an increase of 57,99 cm2.